54 Chapter 54 - The Trouble that PvP Brings (2/2)
Gu Fei calmed himself down as he continued to read on. The discussion finally returned back to the thread's main topic several posts afterward, and the players began to discuss Gu Fei's battle skills. Through the details provided by the many onlookers, Gu Fei's online persona was easily deduced: an Agility-based Mage who possessed a weapon with additional magic attack trait. A combination of his swift movements and the said trait had allowed Gu Fei to almost instantly finish off the low HP Thief No Smile.
Many experts analyzed the character in greater detail afterward, resulting in nonstop arguments over their varying opinions. Gu Fei noticed a certain post by a user called Slyris.
This user claimed that Gu Fei had managed to slay No Smile purely by chance. No Smile was a Strength-based Thief, resulting into him losing to the Agility-based Mage Gu Fei. The Thief job class had low HP to begin with, so No Smile could not withstand the physical attack and weapon's fire attack from the Mage. Had he been someone else with higher HP, stronger defense, or faster speed, the outcome would probably be different. Only a few players wore magic resistant armor right now. If No Smile had had magic resistant equipment at the time, the additional fire attack dealt by Gu Fei would be greatly weakened.
Slyris mentioned a detail that nobody had noticed as well. Although No Smile was killed ten times, No Smile's first death, when he was still at level 30, had not been witnessed by anyone; his second death, when he dropped to level 29, had actually been caused by a Thief. Meaning, the Mage only started to hunt No Smile after the latter had dropped two levels. Did that mean that the Mage might not have the confidence to kill No Smile off when the latter was at his peak?
This analysis was logical and made complete sense, provided that it was applied to an average player. Unfortunately, Slyris neglected to account for the fact that Gu Fei knew kung fu.
Backed by his kung fu, Gu Fei had made short work of No Smile in every engagement with just two or three slashes. This truth was hardly noticeable to anyone but supreme experts.
After reading all the replies to this post, Gu Fei felt somewhat disappointed. He had originally expected this post to completely research Gu Fei's character, yet it was just like all the other posts. A discussion that descended into an argument, becoming a match of insults and curses that was ultimately left unsettled. It seemed Gu Fei had to research himself the best way to make the Mage character fit his expectations.
After leaving the forums, Gu Fei went online.
The first thing he did once he had gotten online was to take off Eddie's Emblem. He had gained too much unwanted attention while assuming his Masked Slayer persona. My identity will get exposed if a bored individual on the street decides to use Appraisal on me, Gu Fei thought. He quickly made his way to the Auction House, intending to quickly buy a new set of equipment to change his image completely.
However, the Auction House was a little strange today. Gu Fei could not use any of the services, and the NPCs working there ignored him completely. Despite repeatedly trying to communicate humbly with the NPCs, they remained oddly indifferent. He felt beleaguered by what was happening. Suddenly, someone tapped his shoulder from behind, ”What's the matter, Miles?”
Gu Fei swiftly turned around and saw Brother Assist. He fortunately came across this expert here. He quickly relayed what had just happened and asked Brother Assist about it.
Brother Assist stared at him in shock, ”We're thinking about how crazy you were yesterday. Don't tell me you didn't know about the game's PvP rules?”
”What is that?” Gu Fei curiously asked.
Brother Assist hurriedly explained, ”In Parallel World, anytime you kill a player, you will accumulate one PK1 point. At 1 PK point, only certain NPCs will refuse to service you, and death will result into you dropping two levels. Once your PK value reaches 10 points, NPCs throughout the city won't do business with you, and death will cause you to drop three levels. If your PK value reaches 20 points, NPC guards and patrolling soldiers will arrest you on sight; death will reduce your level by four, while getting captured reduces your level by two plus jail time. At 30 PK points, NPCs will just execute you on the spot, and death will drop you by five levels.”
”So what should I do?” Gu Fei was stupefied.
”Right now, you should be below 20 PK points. You can just turn yourself in and sit in the jail; every hour you're jailed will lower your PK point by one! Alternatively, you can drift about outside the city. The PK point will get reduced by one for every two hours you spend outside,” Brother Assist explained.
”Who's going to choose to stay in prison?! So what if I can't buy things. That's no big deal,” Gu Fei said.
Brother Assist nodded, ”I'm afraid there's another important matter you're not aware of.”
”What?”
”There's a sort of quest in Parallel World called 'Bounty Mission'. This mission refreshes daily, and its target is players who have accumulated PK points. It can be done alone or with a mercenary group, and the players will be rewarded according to the PK points of their target. After your strong display yesterday, there's no doubt that you will be at the top of the Wanted Players list today.”
Gu Fei was dumbfounded. He did not expect that fighting online would be this troublesome.PK - is short for Player Killing.